A cornucopia of architecture projects beginning with my masters of architecture degree studio work. WARNING!! Have food while you read. Best to make one aspect of this experience delectable.
Monday morning we began setting up our work in the Black Box (BB): a 50 X 50 X 25 feet performance space in the basement of Concrodia's Engineering and Visual Arts Building (EV). Throughout the day, different members from the Topological Media Lab (TML) trickled into the space to meet us and our work, as well as set up their own computer stations for sound and lighting. Setting up is slow. Familiarizing yourself with the space is not easy: its huge, and it's set in the basement of the EV building, itself a large network of stacked research centres, studios, information technology labs, atriums, staircases and elevators big and small. Much of the first days was spent climbing and descending the EV building. The freight elevator became our second workshop space. It is also a place to hang out and meet other students in Concordia...
By the end of the day we had decided on a layout of machines inside the BB. The layout also included a hanging pole plan, and location of trusses for lighting. Suspending the poles and trusses would took place Tuesday.
Assembing, Daniel McGibbon, November 2007
Tuesday: hanging the poles with Marnie and Ricardo. Lunch break skipped out of the BB (needed to see the sun, get fresh air) and went down to the Atwater Market. Very yummy lunch. Walnut bread, Au Ciel de Charlevoix blue cheese, a really gooey goat's cheese roll coated in ashes, and fresh grapes and orange pepper. Back to the BB. That afternoon we got an introduction to some of the work being done by the grads and members of the TML. Jean-Sebastien presented some video patched he's been working on - a comet program and a few other eye scrumptious videos. The videos are like organisms which react to light data (taken from live video feed) and changes according to their programming code.
Comet Patch built by JS, Daniel McGibbon, November 2007
After setting up the poles, the next step was hanging my machine and deciding how to build and shape the steam wands. Where would they bend? How would I use lighting? There was also the issue of dripping water lingering in the back of my mind (where does it go?!) and what data I could use to integrate into other people's projects.
Just before taking off to Montreal and working with the TML at Hexagram, Concordia, I made some additions to "du Still".
I have added two more exit tubes to the copper pot lid, with mechanical valve. Now that I know the machine produces steam, I would like the option to play with multiple tubes springing out from the kettle, allowing to fill more space, creating more play between the observer and the machine. How will they approach the machine, and how will the machine unravel itself?
I have made decisions on how to bend the tube. Looking at the natural shape of the tube, not forcing it to bend in directions beyond its engineered shape. This will affect what kinds of shapes I can generate when in Montreal, perhaps define a geometry within the system of the machine.
The "new" name of the beast is du Still. When showing the work to visiting critics, or describing it to chemists in the Chemistry department, I got the same first reaction, "so...you're making moonshine" This is a nice change from the comments I got when first making the steam machine. Back then I got, "so...you're making a bomb". Well, thanks for the positive feedback. I will work that into the project.
I digress.
Above is a schematic drawing for the installation of du Still in the Black Box, Montreal, QC. The machine is for the most part suspended. The steam wands are not fixed and could be reformed, added or subtracted in length and number. In this way we could play with the position of the floating the steam wands: above peoples heads, or laying it on the ground, and more....
A. 3 foot tube with 9 holes, Gregory Rubin 01.11.07
As part of exploring the control and shape of steam, I have gone through a couple of interrations of steam wand length, no. of punctures and shape. In the first case (A & B) I kept the rod straight and punctured at four centimeter intervals nine one-point-five millimeter diameter holes, all in the same direction. In the second case, I increased the number of punctures to 24, (the entire length of the tub), then bent it into a ring shape (C & D).
B. 3 foot long tube with 9 holes, Gregory Rubin 01.11.07
C. 1 foot diameter ring with 24 holes, Gregory Rubin 01.11.07
D. detail of 1 foot diameter ring with 24 holes, beast with ring wand, hole details, tub cutter, Gregory Rubin 01.11.07
The location of participant relative to light and steam machine is crucial to the experience of the beast. There is a celestial like relationship physical between light, steam and participant which needs to be constantly changing and moving in space (think of the relationship between the sun, the moon and the earth). Even after the beast is activated and steam pours from its opening, we light to and proximity to machine to feel its textures, its potential concreteness. Depending on where we stand relative to these two other sources, the steams visibility will range from invisible to visible, and within the steam visibility range, appear coloured, or perhaps neutral. Previously, I enquired as to how the machine changes atmosphere. Steam and heat are my two sources for changing the space. This exploration is ongoing, but now I want to add the following: how do we become more dynamic participants, actuators and sensors as the environmental conditions change? How does the machine draws us, the participant through the space, during the process of environmental activation? What are the ways for registering the changes in heat and humidity in space.the changes in space?
I also need to find a better way of bending my tubes!
Steam, Light and Participant Triumverate
Humidity and heat sensors are a couple of tools which could prove very useful. What would the collected data tell me about the space in which the machine exists and a activates? How might I relay this collected data back to the machine, so that it uses the information to change the way it activates the space?
Another tool that I am looking to integrate into the beast system are muscle wire activated air valves. I would like to place the air valve within the path of the steam tube wands. Muscle wire is activated by electric current. This eletro-mechanical actuator could replace the current mechanical valves I have in place. The circuitry could be connected to the Arduino, and a program to actuate the valve.
Mechanical Valve or the Electro-Mechanical Valve. choices? choices!
Video: Gregory Beck Rubin, Music: Steve Reich's America Before the War
Notes from the latest test of the Beast:
Lighting: Projected fluorescent lighting from below the copper tubes helps to illuminate the steam. One interesting effect is how light registers the velocity of the steam as it exists the tubes. I would now like to cut more holes into the tube and see how multiple openings alter the shape and velocity of the steam. How far will the steam project? What kind of interaction can I develop by lighting the steam as objects move through its space?
Heat: The copper tubes heat up substantially once the steam starts pumping. However, you can pass your hand through the steam without burning your skin. Its a nice effect to feel the pressure of the steam, or feel the tiny droplets of moisture accumulate on the surface of your body.
Insulation and Assembly: I have decided not to insulate the tubes. This will also make it easier for me to add and subtract other tubes, paths or openings to the existing branches by simple plumbing techniques.
Projections, Dimensions: I have gathered some dimensions below to give some clues as to the space the machine might occupy in the Blackbox. One of the two copper tubes reaches over ten feet away from the boiler. From its tip, the steam projects about one foot. Contrasting this, the shorter of the two tubes, five feet, projects steam further from its own end, about one-and-a-half feet. Is there an inverse relationship between distance of tube and distance of steam projection inherent in the machine's design? How might I begin to play with the relationship between these two figures?
I have suspended the machine in the studio. I did a couple of tests running the machine, while it was on my desk, but would now like to test it out hanging in the air. The steam machine vibrates quite a bit once it gets going, and it will be interesting to observe these effects now that the machine floats.
I have also extended, and straightened the branches of the machine. As the branches extend further out, the section of the tube diminishes. I have not recovered the tubes with insulation because I think once the lid is securely fastened, I will recover the pressure necessary to pump steam, and the initial coolness of the tube surface will be heated by the steam.
On Friday we had reviews with artist Ken Gregory. I did a test of the machine for Ken, and during the "performance" there came to the surface a few issues, read: malfunctions. Leaking water, leaking steam from the unsealed lid, cold tubes condensing the steam before it could exit the wands. We spoke about how to fix these issues. And Ken gave me some good tips on how to avoid making a bomb. He suggested looking at valve solinoids to control the pressure and flow of water into/and steam out of the tank. Also recommended I check out some websites for steam hobbyists.
Since Friday, I have been going back and adjusting the machine's details to make sure the next test works, including:
-Fixing the element connection: cleaner silicon joint -Insulating the copper tubes -Adding a valve to the tube carrying water into the pot -Making the lid secure -Making different steam wands....
Applying simple plumbing techniques, I can easily incorporate different "steam wands" to the machine's lid, like adding or subtracting limbs to the branches of a tree. I have this feeling that different types of openings along the copper tube might produce different shapes of steam. Like the water shooting from Roman fountains, I would like the steam to take on various tectonic figurations. So, while I am sealing this bomb, I have also picked up some metal bits for my Dremel to puncture the copper tube.
I am also looking at work by Greek installation artist Kounellis. Below is one example with fire, flames, propanes tanks. Kounellis, Untitled, 1969
Kounellis' simple arrangements of fundamental elements in architecture create spectacle in unlikely spaces: burning, disintegration, weight, compression, elaboration.
There is also this video by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, "The Way Things Go". They must have had so much fun making this one...
To continue developing my machine, and as part of the workshop in Montreal, I want the Beast to become a kinetic performance. What are the possibilities in making a series of fire and water and steam installation, oxidizing different metals with a propane tank, translating invisible elements into sculpted, glowing or burning forms?
